Review: WestJet 787 International Premium Economy In 2023 (Worth It?)

On the way back home from Europe, I chose to fly WestJet’s international Premium Economy option on the Boeing 787 Dreamliner between Paris and Calgary. In this review, I’ll cover the airport experience, premium seat features and comfort, service quality, the full food and drinks experience, and ultimately whether I think it’s worth booking.

Booking & Price

At time of booking about 2 months out from departure, WestJet was asking $1,521.73 CAD (about $1,100 USD) for a one-way Premium Economy fare in late August 2023 from Paris to Calgary, with an additional regional connection included. Thankfully, WestJet tends to offer reasonable one-way transatlantic fares, unlike most other airlines that gouge those who aren’t buying round-trip.

Additionally, I was able to buy a ticket for a second passenger for only $551.62 thanks to WestJet’s excellent Companion Voucher that I earned from the WestJet RBC World Elite Mastercard. Plus, I was able to knock off an extra $324 using my WestJet Dollars from the airline’s loyalty program, also earned from the same MasterCard.

Overall, this brings my total cost per passenger down to just $874.67 CAD, or about $620 USD — an excellent price to pay for Premium Economy over an ocean!

Airport Experience

While not a complete Business Class experience, a Premium Economy ticket on WestJet does come with some notable benefits at the airport. I was eligible to use the expedited priority check-in line at Paris (CDG), priority boarding in Zone 1 at the gate, and check up to 2 pieces of checked baggage for free.

But unfortunately WestJet Premium Economy does not come with any lounge access, even on international flights, but this is fairly standard among the majority of airlines. Finally, it is worth noting that a reasonable check-in upgrade of $600 CAD to Business Class was offered to me, but I turned it down.

Seat Features & Comfort

The Premium Economy cabin on WestJet’s 787 Dreamliner is arranged in a 2-3-2 configuration, meaning two aisles with three seats in the middle and two seats on each side of the plane. This alone can make Premium Economy an attractive upgrade when traveling in a pair as you can secure your own row, since the Economy cabin is arranged as 3-3-3.

WestJet’s Dreamliner Premium seats come with 38 inches of seat pitch (a measurement of the distance between seats to compare spaciousness and legroom), versus 31 inches on Economy seats. As for seat width, you gain an additional 2 inches with Premium’s 21 inch wide seats over Economy’s 19 inches. Both improvements make for a pretty comfortable seat.

For seat features, you’ll find…

• Excellent adjustable headrest with ‘wing’ adjustments on the sides for sleeping.
• Additional storage space in side of seat under the large arm rest, helping to solve the ‘where do I put my phone?’ conundrum in economy.
• Power outlet and USB port for each seat, located under arm rest.
• Large 13.3 inch entertainment screen with tilt function, an extra two inches larger than Economy.

Perhaps the most impressive feature though is an included leg rest that extends out from the bottom of the seat significantly! When combined with generous recline and legroom, the leg rest makes a big difference in lounging or napping comfort and isn’t yet found on most Premium Economy seats.

Food & Drinks

Before we even departed from the gate, a pre-departure drink choice of either orange juice, sparkling wine, or mimosa was offered. Shortly after take-off, flight attendants came down the aisle laying out tablecloths on our table trays, and providing some initial pretzel and chocolate snacks.

Initial drinks were offered alongside the snacks, and this includes a decent selection of alcohol you can see in the menu below, as well as WestJet’s signature drink titled ‘Above The Clouds’. I had two glasses of this signature drink throughout the flight, and it was quite good! I do wish that WestJet included Bailey’s in their selection, like Air Canada does, but that’s personal preference.

For the main hot meal, a choice was offered between Beef Bourguignon, Roasted Chicken Breast, and Four Cheese Ravioli. I opted for the Beef choice, but had to settle for Chicken as the Beef was sold out before getting to my seat at 7A. WestJet appears to be only load the minimum of required meals on their flights, meaning you are unlikely to get your preferred choice of hot dish if you’re seated outside of the first or second rows of the cabin.

Served as sides on the tray alongside your choice of main hot dish was a Caprese Salad, a warm piece of bread, a small portion of cheese and crackers, and a Chocolate and Pear Cake with custard for dessert. Everything comes in real quality dishware in a respectable presentation and doesn’t feel cheap at all.

My general impression is that the main chicken dish was pretty tasty and superior to an average economy meal in terms of quality, but the portion size did leave something to be desired and resembled more of an economy offering in that sense.

After meals, trays, and tablecloths were cleaned up, one more round of drinks was offered throughout the cabin before lighting was dimmed for sleep.

About an hour and a half prior to landing, a second arrival meal was served consisting of a Margherita Baked Bun — or in other words, a fancy hot pocket essentially. Small portions of crackers, cheese, fruits, vegetables, and chocolate were served as sides on the tray.

Honestly, the arrival meal was quite disappointing after the high standards set earlier in the flight, but in fairness this was served only about 5 hours after wrapping up the first meal. In other words, it’s not unfair to consider this more of a snack.

Amenity Kit & Bedding

Upon boarding, I found three gifts presented at my seat: a high quality plush blanket, a fairly standard pillow, and a small amenity kit!

WestJet’s Amenity Kit is a cute blue fabric bag from the Rocky Mountain Soap Company and comes with comfy socks, an eye mask, a set of earplugs, and a stick of lip butter. It’s nothing fancy, but delivers the basics for a good sleep and another factor that helps WestJet’s Premium feel closer to business class.

Entertainment & Headphones

An extensive in-flight entertainment system is installed on Premium seatbacks with a 13.3 inch screen, including an important tilt function! The display gets plenty bright and is fully featured with hundreds of movies or TV shows, and of course the underrated flight map. Personally, I ended up watching all six episodes of The Office that were available.

Full size over-the-ear noise cancelling headphones were provided too, instead of basic in-ear buds, which I was not expecting to find in Premium Economy! This is a really nice touch that helps the time fly by much faster.

Wi-Fi Internet is available and working well in my experience, but is not included for Premium passengers. I was able to access it complimentary using my WestJet RBC World Elite Mastercard instead.

In-Flight Service

Service on my WestJet Premium Economy flight was honestly incredible, at least relative to the expectations I have when purchasing this class of fare. In other words, itt was on the level of what I would expect when sitting in Business Class.

The beginning of a flight can really set the tone for the rest of the experience, and WestJet did an excellent job here with a personal greeting from the flight attendant at every seat after boarding. She offered to explain many of the seat’s features in detail including power plug and table tray locations, shared meal menus, and distributed pre-departure drinks of orange juice or sparkling wine. All of this took place before the plane even took off and is very impressive for Premium Economy.

Throughout the entire flight, service continued to be very warm, friendly, and attentive. It was honestly quite a contrast from the Air Canada experience sometimes in terms of friendliness, as much as I love their product in many other ways.

Additionally, I had an unfortunate incident in the middle of the flight of knocking a drink over and spilling it onto much of my seat, not to mention myself. Upon flagging this to a flight attendant, they kindly provided me a hefty supply of paper towels, and even found an extra blanket that I could lay on my seat to deal with what soaked in to the fabric. This was thoughtful service that felt genuinely kind and not an annoyance to deal with. I also overheard her speak to a colleague about making a note of this, so it could be properly cleaned for the next passenger.

Conclusion: Is WestJet Dreamliner Premium Worth It?

Overall, I was left feeling delightfully surprised with the quality of Premium Economy on the WestJet 787 Dreamliner from Europe. If you’re someone who is open to the idea of paying a premium for a superior flight experience, rather than getting to your destination as cheaply as possible, I highly recommend considering WestJet’s international Premium Economy cabin!

Putting aside the obvious lack of a lie-flat bed or private pod, the experience shines brightly next to Business Class in most other factors — including a high quality and well presented meal, and excellent friendly service.

In terms of the Canadian landscape, I’ve flown Air Canada’s premium economy as well and would consider the WestJet to be the superior option in a number of ways.